File-cuttotg htachibte



ragniv'r onricn.

JAMES L. NORTON, OF ALUM BANK, PENNSYLVANIA.

FILE-CUTTING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 14,881, dated May 13, 1856.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES L. NORTON, of Alum Bank, in the county of Bedford and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Cutting F iles; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and eXact description of the construction and operat-ion of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents a side view of said file cutting machine. Fig. 2 a top view of the same. Fig. 3, a longitudinal vertical section, through the center, showing the parts in the rear from the reversed side of Fig. 1. Fig. ha perspective view of the holding apparatus to be used in cutting half round files.

The nature of my invention relates to such improvements in file cutting machines as will facilitate the work and at the same time produce files on which either all the teeth are cut to exactly the same depth, or in such a manner that the depth of the cuts, decreases toward the thinner end of the file, at the option of the operator, and in an arrangement for cutting half round iiles on the same machine.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A represents the bed plate of the machine; it is supported by the feet B; on this plate rests a sliding carriage O, composed of several parts hereafter to be described, which runs in a groove in the bed plate. The lile D to be cut is laid into a corresponding cavity on said carriage, and secured t-o it at one end by the lever E, which turns on its fulcrum a, and which holds said end of the file by the action of the spira-l spring F pressing on its long arm; the small end of the file is secured by means of a slotted key Gr being attached to the carriage by a screw boltl b, which arrangement can be adapted to files of various lengths. The chisel forcutting the files is attached to an apparatus of the following description; two upright metal bloc-ks H, are set into grooves of the bed Vplate and secured by means of bolts or wedges, but in such a manner that they can be adjusted in these slots; they serve as pillar blocks for the supportof the fulcrums CZ, of two levers I, which are connected together near one end by means of a cross bar K; the chisel L is iiXed into the body of said cross bar, by means of a screw and nut. Two springs M attached at their lower ends to the bed plate and at their upper ends to the levers I, press the latter down constantly; this pressure can be regulated by moving the springs in their slots and inserting the fastening pins, respectively into the notches 1, 2, 3. Motion is imparted to the machine through the shaft N, by means of a crank or pulley, said shaft' is supported by two pillar blocks O and P, which rest on the bed plate, but are not permanently secured to it, but of which the pillar block P, can turn on a pivot f, and O can assume a circular motionhaving at its bottom a projection, which runs in a circular groove of the bed plate, the center of which circle is in the pivot f.

The shaft N bears at its end a plate Q, provided with regular and equidistant projections and similar in its shape to a circular ratch; it revolves in the direction of the arrow, and each projection encounters and raises the tooth or pawl. h, which being attached to the two combined levers I, are thus raised by each tooth of the ratch, and drawn down aga-in by the springs M, thus imparting to the levers I, and to the chisel L, a vibrating up and downward motion, and as the springs M, are of sufficient strength to force down the chisel, each stroke will make a cut into the file. It is necessary, that after each longitudinal through cut, the file should advance through the length of the cut; and thus while the cam plate Q, rotates rapidly, assume a very minute motion; this is accomplished by a spiral cam or worm la, which is attached to one side of the cam plate Q, being in gear with a rack R, the latter being attached to the carriage block, and thus imparts to it a slow advancing motion. The carriage bloc-k thus advances until a projection or trigger m, comes in contact with aprojection 0, of the lever S, (having its fulcrum at, 71,) which being up to that moment hooked into another lever T of the fulcrum p, is thus made to trip and detaches the latter. The upright U, is fixed at its base to the horizontal lever T, and the spiral spring V, is attached at one end to t-he piece U, and at the other to 4the pillar block P, thus when the lever T is detached it is drawn by the spring V, toward the pillar block P, and brings the upright U, immediately under the tooth h, which movement disconnects said tooth h, from the action of the cam plate Q, and from that moment the chisel is at rest. This short end of the lever T is forked and holds with its fork, the bolt 9, of the pillar block O, and thus by the movement just described the latter is moved in the direction of the arrow, and turns at the same time the pillar block P on its fulcrum f; this latter movement turns the cam plate Q., and spiral cam 76 obliquely to theA rack R as the red line in Fig. 2 indicates, and thus disconnects them. The carriage block being now free, slides backward by the falling of the weight w, suspended from a cord which runs over a pulley X, and which is attached to the sliding carriage.`

In most les it is essential that the cuts are of equal depths and this would be accomplished by this machine, without any further contrivances, if the files were of the same thickness through their entire length; but as this is not the case, the cuts would be unequal owing to the strength of the spring, and the distance through which the chisel moves. To prevent this, it is necessary that the thin end of the file should rise constantly during the operation of the cutt-ing, which is accomplished by the following arrangement. l

The sliding carriage on which the file rests, consists of two parts, the lower one resting and sliding on the bed plate A, and the upper one attached to the .lower one, only by means of a pivot s, at one end on which it can be turned, and resting at its other end by means of a foot t, on a horizontal wedge Y; this wedge rests in arecess of the bed plate, and is kept there stationary by a projection on it, entering one of the circular apertures u, and thus it will be seen that when the chisel L is in operation the foot t runs on the wedge Y, and causes that end of the carriage where the thin end of the file lies to rise. This risingcan be regulated by moving the wedge Y, and substituting another one, and using any of the holes u as circumstances may require.

The chisel L can be turned to any desired angle, and be kept steady by placing one of the arms fw, into the notches m; it can also by this arrangement be reversed to cut a file crosswise. It is further desirable that the projection m, may be adjustable; so as to cut longer or shorter files on the same machine, for this purpose the piece m, is provided with teeth y like a rack, which can be inserted into the recesses of a similar rack on the sliding carriage, and thus its position can be changed at pleasure.

The following may be inserted into the above described machine for the purpose of cutting half round files. The plate Z, on

which the file immediately rests is removed together with the key G, and bolt b, and in ing recess of the shaft A, and secured to it by a clutch c turning on a vpivot b and operated upon by a spiral spring D, after each cutting the shaft A is turned in such a manner that the catch B will be inserted into the next following groove, and thus the entire round surface can be cut- In cutting half round files, it will be perceived that the swell of the file, does not correspond concentrically with the shaft or holder A, and that if the blank were laid on straight, that the niches would not follow the shape of the file. To remedy this, and as a substitute for, and a modification of the former Y, used for flat files, I skew the point of the file as seen in Fig. 4, while the heel of it remains in practically the same position, and thus compensate for the taper of the file, by shifting its position. In cutting the half rounds I usually make seven rows of nicks (though the holder A is only shown for six) and usually cut two rows at one edge, then shift the file, and cut three rows on the crown of the file, then against shift the blank, and cut the remaining two rows. And I thus give the greatest uniformity to he niches in the line of the length of the Having thus fully described the nature of my invention what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1s- 1. Hanging the worm wheel shaft in movable bearings so that the worm may be disengaged from the feeding rack without stopping its motion to do so, for the purpose of allowing the carriage to run back and be set for the next series of nicks substantially as set forth.

2. I also claim in combination with the movable shaft, the adjustable projection m. and levers S, T, for first holding, and then disengaging the shaft, to admit of its swinging, substantially as set forth.

3. I also claim in combination with the sliding carriage C, the projection t, and adjustable former Y, for keeping the blank at a uniform distance from the nicking tool, for the purpose of equalizing the force of the blow, notwithstanding the taper of the blank, as set forth.

4. I also claim the use ofthe spaces, l, 2, S, for regulating the force of the spring upon the nicking tool as set forth.

JAMES L. NORTON.

Vitnesses:

J. H. WRIGHT, WM. M, HANCOCK. 

